Sunday, August 4, 2019

August 2019


Summer’s lease has all too short a date, but come on, it’s only August! A whole month left of summer. Our Shakespeare highlight has probably been playing Shakespeare TP (see below) but there have been a few interesting sightings as well. But first I’ll start, once again, with these questions:
  • Have you bought Shakespeare calling – the book? I would be so happy if the answer were yes.
  • Have you asked your local library to buy it? Ditto.
  • Have you told your friends about it? Ditto.
  • Have you promoted it on Facebook and all the others? Ditto.
  • Have you put the book on your want-to-read list on Good Reads? Ditto.
  • Have you read it, rated it, even reviewed it on the sites available, Good Reads, your library, Amazon etc? Ditto.

In other words, I really need your help in promoting the book, and keeping the project alive. It’s a very large book jungle out there and even Shakespeare’s voice can disappear in the din without your help. So, if you see this, please feel inspired to act on these questions!
Thank you!

The book is available for those of you in Great Britain and parts of Europe on this site:

Or in Sweden
or Adlibris. Or contact the publisher info@vulkan.se

Shakespeare sightings:
  • In the Swedish novel En man som heter Ove (A Man Called Ove) by Fredrik Backman, Ove’s wife Sonja had been a teacher of troubled kids and succeeded in getting them to appreciate Shakespeare.
  • In Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs the main character Mercy tells her friend Samuel, ‘Do not go gentle…rage, rage’ when he wants to die and he quotes the ‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow’ monolog at her.
  • Like many others, I’m now addicted to playing Quiz on Messenger. Shakespeare pops up in questions now and then. Some answers are embarrassingly obvious, others even I can’t come up with. Sorry, no examples, it goes very quickly.
  • In Jodi Taylor’s What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, time traveller Max points out as her team heads back to 1485 that everyone knows about Shakespeare’s ‘Crookback.’ Max’s team’s mission is to see that Richard III is indeed killed, otherwise history would be badly changed, and that, of course, must never happen!
  • During our ongoing Springsteen marathon we came to High Hopes, an excellent CD that holds up with his previous work. In the song ‘Frankie Fell in Love’ are the lyrics:
  • ‘Our Juliet says her Romeo’s been found’
  • ‘Einstein and Shakespeare, sittin’ havin’ a beer…Shakespeare says, ‘Man, it all starts with a kiss’’
  • ‘Shakespeare says, ‘Man, it’s just one and one makes three, that’s why it’s poetry’’
  • Good old Bruce
  • The Four Horsemen – the discussion that sparked an atheist revolution has Richard Dawkins, Dan Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens discussing the arguments they meet when they talk about religion and atheism. Richard Dawkins points out that Shakespeare is one of the reasons he’s proud to belong to the human race. Oh yes.
  • Be Kind Rewind, the film with Jack Black and Mos Def, has the heroes refilming films (see it, it’s very good), one of which is The Lion King. Our heroes point out that it’s based on Shakespeare, Hamlet, right?


Further since last time:
  • Played Shakespeare Trivial Pursuit with our dear Shakespeare friends EG and EG in their lovely summer cottage in Hälsningland in north (sort of north, it’s still a long way from the Arctic Circle in really northern Sweden) Sweden. A very enjoyable game.

Posted this month
  • This report


Shakespeare Calling – the book is promoted by

Read more about my alter ego’s books, in one of which Shakespeare appears live and in person, on:



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